Fragments of Memory
by SetsuntaMew
Summary: [Akuroku and SoRiKai] After being returned to Destiny Islands, normalcy has returned for Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Roxas, however, is unsatisfied with merely living in Sora's head, as well as not remembering his time in Organization XII.


**Fragments of Memory**  
by SetsuntaMew

And this, this is what happens when I spend more time reading fanfiction than doing homework. It's called a new fic from your friendly neighborhood Killian. I've had this baby hiding on my computer since, oh, December. I just found it last night and decided to post the prologue. And I really want to have an active _non_ AU fic up.

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I do _not_ own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, Axel and Roxas's last scene together in Final Mix would have had less talking and more making out.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Despite being gone for close to two years, Sora and Riku were still able to re-enroll in school. They had lots of catching up to do, of course, but everyone had been so very understanding. How could they not be? If not for the two, their entire world would no longer exist.

It had taken awhile, but Sora, Riku, and Kairi had finally settled back into a normal life. It was much different than before, but they were learning to live with it. Sora and Kairi had quite the adjustment to make, even more than Riku, really. Roxas and Naminé hadn't faded away, rather, they continued to exist in their Others' heads. It was more than the two Nobodies had expected to have, and they were learning to enjoy it.

However, after six months of this, Roxas wasn't satisfied. He'd never regained all of his memory and it was incredibly frustrating. In dreams, he sometimes got little bits, but they weren't much help, as he usually forgot most of them by the time he woke up.

Roxas had almost given up hope on ever regaining his memories, when Naminé started telling Sora about his forgotten memories of Castle Oblivion. Curious, Roxas questioned her, and she explained he work with taking apart and then eventually restoring Sora's memories. This lead to him asking her to help him with _his_ loss of memory.

"I just want to remember everything," Roxas said, sighing. "I _know_ that I spent about a year in Organization XIII and yet I barely have any memories of it. All I have are little snippets and glimpses."

"But why ask me? I wasn't there; I was busy chaining together Sora's memories," Naminé questioned.

"Because you work with memories! Do you think that you might be able to fix mine?"

"I...don't know. I'm sorry. I was the one who took apart Sora's memories, so that's how I was able to return them to normal. He never truly _lost_ them; they were only disconnected deep within his heart." She sighed. "But yours...you didn't _have_ a heart when you lost your memories. I'm not even sure how DiZ did it with that technology of his."

"So it's impossible?" Roxas was incredibly disappointed.

"I'm just not sure. I'll see if they reside anywhere in you. If they do I may be able to rechain them like I did with Sora's."

"But I've remembered bits of them! Shouldn't they be somewhere in there?"

"I'll see Roxas, but I can't promise anything, okay? I'll try."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

A few days later, Roxas heard from Naminé again.

"I think I can do it."

"Really?" Roxas was thrilled.

"Don't get your hopes up or anything. It's going to be different than with Sora, because all I did was rearrange his. Yours were completely wiped."

"Will I forget the time I spent in Twilight Town and after like Sora did with Castle Oblivion?"

"I don't _think_ so, but don't take my word for it yet. This is all different from anything I've had experience with, so I'm just kind of blindly going into it."

"Thanks, Naminé. For as much or as little as you can do. I just really want to know. I feel like I'm missing a part of myself."

"Well, at least you have a heart now."

"Yeah, one that I have to _share_."

"Roxas...you and I have it better than any Nobody could ever hope for. We have our hearts. We didn't fade into darkness."

"And yet, I don't remember any of my time spent when I _knew_ I didn't have a heart. All I know of is the time in the fake Twilight Town where I thought that I _did_ have one. To me, this is...I don't know. I was used to _more_."

Naminé sighed, giving him a sad look. "You _always_ had more, even in the Organization. You had Axel."

"But I don't remember that! I want to!"

"You will. I'll...I don't know. I'll make it work. DiZ was..." Naminé stopped here, turning away.

"What?"

She shook her head.

"Tell me."

"Roxas...I know you hate the man, and I don't want to feed that hate any more than it's already been fed. He righted his wrongs in the end."

"And yet I'm stuck in Sora's head."

"It'll work out, someday. I can feel it. Kairi and Sora are done talking, so I'm going to have to go. I have to work on fixing your memories, you know."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Roxas didn't hear anything from Naminé about his memories for the next few weeks. She was always working on them, but refused to give him details. In dreams, he would see flashes of them sometimes, but only for a few seconds at the most. Normally, it wasn't even enough to ascertain who he was talking to or anything of the sort.

Then one night he had a memory that he could only describe as _hot_. It was searing and brilliantly burning, like lighting a match to one's senses. Roxas couldn't even begin to describe what was actually happening in it, only the feeling of it. Unfortunately, it had happened while Sora was sleeping and therefore most likely to notice what was going on with Roxas.

"What the hell was _that_?!" the brunet yelled. The memory had woken him up and he sounded pissed. He hadn't even bothered to keep his voice in his head.

_"It was a memory,"_ Roxas snapped.

_"Well, I could _feel_ it,"_ Sora responded, this time remembering not to actually _talk_.

_"I didn't realize that you would."_

_"Just...whatever. Don't keep me awake or I'm coming in there and we can _fight_ over it."_

Sora normally didn't get pissed at his Nobody (seriously, how awesome is it to have an inner voice that actually talks back? It was like having a friend with you at all times), but when his sleep was interfered with... Sora enjoyed his sleep and got mad when he was woken up.

_"Whatever. Not like you'd _win_ this time."_

_"Is that an invitation?"_

_"I don't know, _is_ it?"_

_"Stop taking this conversation in circles!"_

_"It's what I do best."_

_"I'm going back to sleep."_

_"Congratulations."_

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

A few days later, Naminé talked to Roxas about his memories.

"I can put them all together now."

"What?!" Roxas exclaimed.

Naminé looked absolutely horrible, actually. She was exhausted and she definitely looked it.

"I've gathered your memories together. It worked similarly, as they are all like links in a chain. I just need to add the link that ties them all together."

"Well, do it then! Please," he added as an afterthought.

"Roxas...do you understand the emotional strain that this is going to put on you? Not just you, but Sora as well. You have to tell him."

"What?"

"You have to tell Sora before you do this. I...I won't do it unless you do. I swear, I'll take them all apart and you'll be even more lost than before."

"...Fine. I'll tell him."

"Please don't take this lightly, Roxas. This is a _year_ of memories, almost your entire time as a Nobody. Remembering all this _will_ drain you, physically _and_ emotionally."

"I understand. I just...I want my memory back."

"Just come find me when you're ready, alright?"

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

_"Sora? Can I talk to you?"_

Sora looked around the classroom, hoping that no one was paying attention to him. It seemed like the coast was clear.

_"I'm coming in, okay?"_

_"Yeah."_

It had been a little weird at first, but Sora had gotten used to going inside his own head. Usually he'd be on the round stained glass window in the dark with Roxas clad in either his Organization XIII or Twilight Town attire (the latter was normally if he had been talking to Naminé recently). If Sora either forgot to announce his present or Roxas didn't really feel like moving, he'd end up in the pure white bedroom that had been Roxas's during his stay in Organization XIII. Here he was always in the black robes, though sometimes those would be sitting on a chair and the blond would have just the black underclothes on.

Today, Sora found himself in the bedroom, with Roxas sitting calmly on the bed.

"Hey," Sora said in greeting. "What's up?"

"Naminé's reconstructing my memories," Roxas stated simply.

"Really? Wow, that's awesome!"

"Yeah. She's just about done now."

"Then what are you looking so down for?"

"Sora, I spent about a year in Organization XIII. That's a whole year of memories as one of the 'bad guys'. I have almost no idea what I did during that time. All I know is that I spent most of it with Axel and I left to find out why I could wield the Keyblade. Everything in between is nothing but a blur. All I've got are little snippets of memories."

"Oh."

"Naminé wants me to warn you that it's going to be draining to both of us. Physically for you and, well, emotionally for me."

Sora walked over to sit next to Roxas on the bed. "I want you to have your memory back. If I had lost mine...well, I had, I just don't remember it, I would want it back."

"You've still lost part of it."

"Good point. But Naminé filled me in on the important parts. So...I want you to have a chance to have yours. It's...well, it's just not right, what DiZ did. I didn't have a lot of _good_ experiences with Nobodies, but you and Naminé are good. And Axel...I think he was good in the end. Without him I would probably _still_ be fighting off all those Dusks."

"Thanks, Sora."

"Hey, what else do you think I'm here for?"

"Good point. You're not much use for anything else."

"Hey! I'm being all nice to you and you're just being mean to me!"

"Of course."

"Look, I have to run. Class is ending and Riku's been poking at me for the last couple minutes."

"I'll tell you when. It'll be later."

"Okay!"

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

"Hey...hey! Kairi! Wait up!" Sora yelled out.

Kairi was walking out of the school talking to Selphie, the brunette talking animatedly as she pointed to Tidus. She turned and noticed Sora and quickly finished her conversation with Selphie.

"Sora! I thought you had detention or something because you never met up with me after class."

"Uh, yeah, about that. Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I was talking to Roxas."

"Oh, okay. How is he?"

"Naminé's been chaining together his memories."

"No wonder she's so busy and tired these days. I wondered what she was doing."

"Yeah...well, Roxas wanted to talk to me about it. It's a whole years worth of memories and it'll be draining for us both."

Kairi looked at him worriedly. "Sora...are you both going to be okay?"

"Of course! Memories can't be _that_ bad, can they?"

"I guess not. Are you going to...I don't know. Rest or something?"

"I hadn't really thought about it."

"I know! The three of us can go over to the island this evening. Riku and I'll watch over you and be...moral support?"

"That's a great idea. Thanks Kairi! I'm going to run home to drop my stuff off and tell my mom where I'm going. I'll meet you two there, okay?"

"Sure thing. See you there, Sora."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

And that's that. I know I probably shouldn't be starting a new fic, but I wanted to. I haven't written for so long and now I'm full of ideas. Anyway, update schedule for this should be around once a week? I don't know. Check my profile for updates :D

If you like this at all, you'll review. Even just a short one brings a smile to my face and I love to hear about what I could improve and such. So...yes, that's all I have to say.


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